Save Money on Hawaii Vacation Accommodations

Hawaii can be an expensive vacation destination, but it doesn’t have to be! Your accommodations will likely be the most expensive component of your vacation budget, but you can trim those costs with these money savings ideas.

1.Go to Hawaii when the rates are down.During low seasons you’ll find great rates and/or enticements such as one night free, resort credits and free breakfast for two. As I mention in my recommendations for the best times to visit Hawaii, hotel rates are usually at their lowest during these timeframes:

April (except around Easter)

May (except around Memorial Day)

September (after Labor Day)

October

November (except around Thanksgiving)

December before the 20th of the month

You get the best hotel deals during those periods because demand is typically down for various reasons (which is worth explaining in a separate post.) I’d like to note that these times are not bad times to visit Hawaii.

2. Stay in Hawaii’s value centers.Value centers? Well, that’s a nicer way of describing the cheapest areas of Hawaii. These areas are plenty nice, but they’re just less expensive than some of the other major resort areas. I’ll list these value centers by island.

Kauai – Kapaa and Lihue on Kauai’s east coast offer quite a few value priced hotels and condos. You’ll also find a very good selection of inexpensive condos in the Poipu Beach area on the sunny south shore.

Big Island – Kona hotels and condos tend to be inexpensive. For an inexpensive vacation on the luxurious Kohala Coast, consider condos in the Waikoloa Beach Resort.

Oahu – Waikiki Beach used to be one of the cheapest places to stay in all of Hawaii, but its popularity grew in 2012/2013. Opt for a hotel that’s “across the street (Kalakaua Avenue) from Waikiki Beach” for an oceanfront feel for less than the oceanfront cost. For even more savings stay a block or two away from the beach. You don’t necessarily need a rental car for your Waikiki vacation, but if you do rent a car, please be aware that parking can be both a challenge and a sizeable expense. See my post on finding free and reasonable parking in Waikiki.

Maui – The Valley Isle can be a bit trickier for finding inexpensive accommodations. Look for condos in Kihei, where you can easily find vacation rentals for under $150 per night. You can also find a few inexpensive vacation rentals dotted around the Lahaina and Kaanapali areas.

3.Consider a vacation condo or villa rental instead of a hotel.
See my article Why Staying in a Condo on a Hawaii Vacation is a Savvy Choice which details obvious plus hidden ways that you can save bucket-loads of money on your Hawaii vacation. You’ll pay rates roughly equal to (and sometime less than) hotel rates, while enjoying more privacy, space and use of a full kitchen while on vacation. VRBO.com and Airbnb.com are two sources for finding the largest inventory of Hawaii vacation rentals.

4.Consider combining airfare and/or car rental for more packaged savings.
If you have the time and inclination for online comparison shopping, consider packaging your hotel room with other major vacation expenses. Online discount travel sites like Expedia and Travelocity allow you to search car, room and flights as well. To make sure you’re getting the savings, it’s best to check the prices of each individual component for comparison.

If you have a membership to Costco, some of the very best car and hotel deals we come across are offered by Costco Travel. For a trip to the Big Island that we took in March 2017, we booked a car and room package through Costco. It also included daily buffet breakfast for two (a $70 daily value) and a resort credit. We got the room and car for far less than the best price we could find on Expedia, Trivago, etc. for just a room only!

If you want to search for the cost of a room only, TripAdvisor is a good site that searches multiple online travel agencies for quick and easy price comparison.

5. Use hotel bidding sites.
If you don’t mind getting a pot luck hotel room, use travel bidding sites like Priceline and Hotwire to get rock bottom hotel rates. I’ve not personally used any of the hotel bidding sites, but my friend Kyle has. A couple years ago, he used Priceline to snag a sweet deal at the Marriott Waikoloa on the Big Island for only $125 per night. At that time, the lowest advertised rate anywhere else was going for $209.

When using hotel bidding sites, Kyle recommends reviewing betterbidding.com and biddingfortravel.com for advice. Kyle says that at these sites, “People share their bidding strategies and “victories,” so you can sometimes get a sense of what you might be successful with.”

Kyle said, “I have never been disappointed with my Priceline reservations, although I usually only try for three-star properties and above (usually four-star only in a place like Hawaii or a major city), so that might have something to do with it. I honestly feel that without Priceline there would be times that I would have had to cancel a planned trip, or at least cut back a few days, because of the cost–there’s just so much potential for saving.”

6. Check TravelzooTravelzoo sometimes has really good Hawaii hotel deals. They don’t have a great “inventory” of deals for Hawaii, but it’s worth checking.

7. Beware of resort fees and parking as you comparison shop.As you’re shopping around for your Hawaii accommodation, make sure you compare apples to apples. Some resorts charge a daily resort fee of $15 and up. These fees supposedly cover items like fitness center use, in-room coffee maker and supplies, parking, etc – amenities that may be included in the rates of other hotels.

Look for hotels that offer free self-parking. You’ll save a bundle in valet fees and tips. Make sure you know the parking options and fees of a resort before you book – particularly if you are staying in Oahu.

8. Consider alternative accommodations – hostels and camping.Can you believe a stay at Hawaii’s most iconic beach resort can cost as little as $13.16 per night? You can get a deal like that at the Waikiki Beachside Hostel, for example. To begin to look at hostels, check out TripAdvisor’sspecialty lodging on each island.

Camping in Hawaii offers another alternative for inexpensive stays – approximately $18 per night for up to 6 persons. You can even camp right on the beach at some parks. For Hawaii camping information and permits, see this link to Hawaii State Parks.

9. Subscribe to Go Visit Hawaii.Here on GoVisitHawaii.com, I list the best of the best accommodation deals that I find. Usually once per month, I’ll list the best flight and hotel deals that I come across. If you aren’t already subscribed, read this article for the instructions on how to get your updates.

I hope that you’ve found new strategies and ideas to help you save money on your Hawaii accommodations. My wish is that these strategies will get you to Hawaii more often than you’d imagine is possible.

15 comments

Great post and tips as always!! I think the biggest tip is to subscribe to Go Visit Hawaii!! You have come up with airare deals etc that I haven’t even tho I am on all the “watches”. Great job. Thanks for all your hard work.

The cheapest way to stay there is to fly with an airline employee on a buddy pass and stay with a friends;)

Shop souvenirs at ABC store unless it is art or one-of-a-kind. Don’t know where to buy Haw’n coffee, pineapple, and cane sugar because even as a resident (mid nineties) I found these cheaper on the mainland!

Recently stayed at ThePlumeriaHostel.com for $63/nite (shared a 2 brm apt with a couple from Alaska) but/and would love to know more about the accomodations for $13.16 – our room is mainly for sleeping purposes – no need for TV…

Get Hotel credit cards! Hyatt (Chase), Fairmont (Chase), and Hilton (Citi) all have offers where you can get 2 free nights at any of their hotels. That includes the Hyatt Maui, Fairmont Kea Lani, and Grand Wailea Maui. Also, the SPG card from Amex is one of the best points cards there is. SPG has several properties in Hawai’i.
Even after those 1st 2 free nights, you can continue to get one free night per year from Fairmont & Hilton, and of course, earn points for even more free nights. Hyatt will give you a free night every year, but only up to Level 4 hotels, which won’t get you a room in Hawai’i.
There are also great deals on miles from Airlines like American (Citi), Hawaiian (BofA), British Airways (Chase), etc.

Hello! We’re going to spend a week on Oahu & Maui in early June, when is the best time to be making accommodation reservations? There will be 4 of us (2 couples), and we’re considering a hotel in Oahu and a condo in Maui. Thank you!

There’s not as much of a fluctuation in hotel rates as there is for airfare rates when it comes to when you create the booking. As long as you are avoiding a holiday, hotel rates don’t fluctuate drastically especially in comparison to flights. Also, most hotel bookings are relatively easy to cancel, if you get one without a cancellation fee.

If you’re set on a condo, I recommend booking that sooner than later so that you have a better selection — especially with June being the start of summer vacation time for families.

I’m travelling to Hawaii for 2 weeks in September 2018, and I’m happy to say that I have found and secured my accomodation. The Ramada Plaza in Waikiki. It’s got everything I need without blowing my budget on pretentious accomodations liKe the Hilton.

I plan to be out and about most of the time, so it didn’t really make sense for me to blow my budget on an expensive place to ultimately only need for somewhere to sleep and shower. I’m so excited

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